Excerpt from Chinese Thought: An Exposition of the Main Characteristic Features of the Chinese World-Conception
In China the most ancient mode of recording thought was accomplished by chieh sheng or "knotted cord," which is alluded to by Lao-Tze in his Tao Teh King, (written in the sixth century be fore Christ) as the ancient and venerable, though awkward, mode of writings, and also by Confucius in the third appendix to the Yih King.
All detailed knowledge of the use of knotted cords in china has been entirely lost, but we can easily understand that it was a mnemo-technic method of remembering data of various kinds and communicating ideas. The same practice prevailed in ancient Peru as well as among the islanders of Oceania, and seems to have been common all over the globe among the peoples of a primitive civilisation.
In South America the knotted cords are called "quippu" and some that are still preserved in ethnological collections were used to indicate the tribute to be paid to the Incas by the several tribes. They consist of woolen threads, the different colors of which represent different kinds if produce: corn, wheat, fruits, furs, etc., while the number of knots register the amount or measure.
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